When I started my first pre-grouping blog in 2013, I entitled my first post “Turning Back the Clock”. Ever since then, I seem to have been turning it further and further back, until I’ve reached the very first engines of the GWR.

 

Some early GWR Engines

 

Although the story of Swindon Works is well documented and there is some information and illustrations of the first establishment at Paddington, I have so far found virtually nothing about the original engine-house at West Drayton, to which the first engines were delivered and then worked on by Daniel Gooch.  MacDermot in his ‘History of the GWR, Vol.1’ tells the delightful tale of Vulcan’s delivery: “the first engine actually tried in steam was Vulcan. It was shipped by Messrs Tayleur to London Docks, whence it came by canal to West Drayton, arriving at the latter place, together with Premier, from Mather, Dixon & Co, about 10th November 1837. Gooch had to get them and two other engines, which arrived later, from the wharf to the engine-house about a mile distant. An elm tree, which happened to be handily situated, was used to support the tackle for lifting the engines from the barge.”  I can’t imagine the Directors having been over-pleased, when they learned how their precious engines had been hauled aloft!

 

The canal tow-path remains a pleasant walk but the wharves have long since disappeared, along with the elm trees. The earliest large scale map I have found is the OS 6 inch, surveyed in 1864, after the Uxbridge branch had been added but while West Drayton station was still located West of the road bridge - the station was moved to the East side in 1884. This map shows the De Burgh Arms already present, although whether it was there in time for Gooch to enjoy a welcome pint after a day’s hard work on the engines is uncertain. I found an artist’s impression of the first station but nothing about the first ‘works’ of the GWR.

 

OS 6-inch – extract showing West Drayton Station, surveyed 1864

 

Nevertheless, this was the place where Gooch wrestled with the problems posed by all those engines that were delivered against Brunel’s specifications.

 

My current model of ‘Eagle’ is one of those engines and it has been difficult to find much information about its detailed design. By looking at early illustrations of other engines built by Sharp, Roberts & Co. for the standard gauge, I have found a few indicative details of how the boiler was mounted on the frames. An illustration of ‘Vortimer’, built for the SER, indicates supports for the boiler at the motion plate and at the side of the firebox, so I have appropriated these features for my model of ‘Eagle’

 

Standard gauge 2-2-2 by Sharp, Roberts & Co., 1842

 

 

Creating the Tender for ‘Eagle’

 

The illustration above also shows the style of tender produced by the firm, although this one is a few years later than ‘Eagle’. On the other hand, there is a similar-looking but smaller tender shown with the earlier engine ‘Hibernia’ that was supplied to the Dublin and Kingstown Railway in 1834.

 

Overlaying the drawings of ‘Eagle’ and the ‘Hibernia’ tender suggests what might have been used as the tender to ‘Eagle’:

 

 

My suggestion of a Tender for ‘Eagle’

 

Furthermore, E.T.Lane made some contemporary sketches of a tender supplied by Charles Tayleur & Co. for the engine ‘Venus’:

 

 

Tender for Venus, sketch by E.T.Lane

 

The style looks familiar and shows the interesting point that the wheels were mounted outside the frames, suggesting that this is simply an adaptation for the broad gauge of one of the firm’s usual tenders.

 

In correspondence with the GWR Directors, Sharp, Roberts & Co. wrote: “The engine tenders made by us are entirely of metal, and consequently much more durable than those made of wood. We have not however had time to make drawings of one adapted to your line, and therefore cannot name an exact price, but we presume it will be from £220 to £250.”. This seems to confirm my ‘adaptation’ theory.

 

So, on the basis of all the above sources of information, I set about designing my own interpretation of a tender for my model of ‘Eagle’. I suppose it is fair to say that any resemblance to the prototype is largely coincidental!

 

I amalgamated the design of the tender for ‘Hibernia’ with the wheels and splashers from the ‘Venus’ tender, keeping the standard-gauge body inside the wheels. The result does look rather high-sided but this must be balanced against the body being narrower than on other broad gauge tenders.

 

My planned Tender for ‘Eagle’ over illustration of ‘Vortimer’

 

As usual, I imported this sketch into Fusion 360 as a ‘canvas’ and then drew over the outlines and extruded the body and chassis panels. I then added splashers outside the frames, as on the engine itself, to produce the 3D model shown below:

 

My conjectural model of a Tender for ‘Eagle’

 

Following my usual method, I printed the various components separately to produce the ‘kit of parts’ shown below:

 

3D-printed Tender Components

 

I have found that my basic printer does remarkably well with small items such as handrails. The axles even print with a clear 1 mm diam. hole thought the centre!

 

3D printed Small Parts

 

PLA plastic is remarkably tough and those fine railings were easily removed from the printer bed without damage.

 

Into the Paint Shop

 

One of the advantages from constructing both the engine and tender from several components is that this simplifies the painting. There is no need to mask off parts, since there is no risk of paint spreading onto adjacent parts.

 

Current opinion appears to take the view that the wooden cladding on early boilers was painted from the start and not left polished, as it is on the replicas at Didcot. I have taken the ‘painted’ approach and used a mix of black and ‘Rustoleum Painter’s Touch’ dark green paints, to create my interpretation of the ‘dark blue-green’ appearance, as described for early broad-gauge engines. I used chocolate brown on the frames and black for the tops of the splashers. Final touches were brass effect for the bright-work and china-red for the buffer beams.

 

My 3D printed model of ‘Eagle’ with its Tender

 

There are various rods and pipes to add to this model and this view also highlights the absence of any motion. This view demonstrates the unusual layout of the running gear, with the leading axle placed in front of the smokebox.

 

‘Eagle’ is my third model of the first group of engines that were built for the GWR.  Both ‘Eagle’ and ‘Aeolus’ became useful branch line engines, after modifications made by Gooch. These engines taught Gooch a lot about the problems of maintaining a fleet of engines, each one of which had its own individual problems. His solution was to introduce a high degree of standardisation to his own designs, the first of which appeared in March 1840 as ‘Fire Fly’.

 

For my final illustration, created with help from Photoshop, I show my three models together, against a backdrop of the engine house at Paddington in 1846.

 

My models of Eagle, FireFly, and Aeolus at Paddington shed, 1845

 

Mike

 

footnote:

 

The engine shed at Paddington in 1845 was of the ‘round house’ style, with a central turntable. Before the present terminus was built on the site of the old Goods Shed, the station offices were located in the arches of Bishop’s Road Bridge, with the platforms and Engine Shed to the west of this bridge: